Mordecai Heller
A black and white cat with green eyes, glasses and a sociopathic attitude. Although his pince-nez mien, straight-laced, persona might make him look like a public accountant, Mordecai Heller is in fact an experienced and calculating hitman (among others in the series) with a chip or two on his shoulders. __TOC__ Background A former employee of Lackadaisy in its glory days, he's been described as Atlas' "Golden boy" by Mitzi May, Mordecai began working for the Marigold gang as their main triggerman, after his employer Atlas May was murdered. As an employee at the Marigold, he has been teamed up with the sadistic Cajun siblings Nico and Serafine Savoy. He is highly inept in his social life, such as not knowing when someone is flirting or joking with him, lacking the social awareness and skill "normal" people have. While working for Lackadaisy, he worked alongside Viktor Vasko. When leaving the Lackadaisy, he kneecapped his partner while "reasoning" with him to retire before he joined Marigold. It is implied that the dark killer, together with Mitzi, might know more about Atlas' death than he admits. *Born March 28, 1899 in New York City, NY, growing up in the city-slum of Manhattan, making him 28 years old at the start of the comic. *Creator Tracy J. Butler has confirmed that Mordecai is Jewish, his parents being German-Jewish immigrants. His religious standing isn't precisely commented upon (though Tracy has said that if she'd try and ask him about it, he'd probably just start lobbing Nietzsche at her), but he does keep kosher. *While his behavior definately qualifies as sociopathic, Tracy has stated she doesn't think it quite fits the bill as a psychiatric diagnosis. As a sociopath, he is pretty much incapable of emotions like love and sympathy, and emotions that might warrant tear-shedding will most likely only confuse the hell out of him. He is also asexual. He's been said to be a product of his circumstances and experiences, though it doesn’t really mitigate his culpability- but it’s not as if he spontaneously decided one day that he wanted to grow up to be a horrible, destructive monster. Trivia *His personality also includes behaviors that may fall within OCPD/OCD territory, some of his bugs being asymmetry, imperfection and uncleanliness (and mayonnaise, it seems). He's also described as being misanthropic. His typical demeanor seems to be one of annoyance (as commented by Asa), deadpan, detachment, seriousness, exasperation and/or frustration (... he really isn't very good at smiling and laughing). *Mordecai's eye defect would be congenital myopia, and without glasses his vision isn't good, but not pointedly terrible either. He experiences some sporadic double vision, and would probably measure somewhere between 20/60 and 20/80 on the Snellen chart without glasses. *A photo shows a young Mordecai with his mother, two sisters, and an infant sister on an apartment doorstep, in New York, lower east side of Manhattan, somewhere around Stanton St. and Orchard St. He's the oldest child in his family. *His sisters are named Esther, Rose and Hannah (who died as an infant.) Rose and Esther have been revealed to both be married in present comic time, Rose (now wearing glasses as well) having one child and probably planning on more. Esther ,though, is described as not exactly being of the 'maternal type'. *His mother's name is Tzipporah, 'Zippy', her maiden name being Wiess. *His father's name was Isaac, not among the living during the canon comic, and he probably died during Mordecai's teenage years. At the time of the afore-mentioned photo, Mordecai was 11 (with Esther being 9, Rose 5, and Hannah a couple of months), and at the time his father was hospitalized for a stroke. Complications from this stroke, or other later strokes, might've been the cause of death. *As a child, Mordecai has been described as being a quiet, studious and nerdy city slum-dweller, but not without prospects…and a night job or two. It has also been said that his childhood was a fairly untraumatic, ordinary one. As a teenager he felt acutely resposible for his younger siblings. His current contact with his family is intermittent. They still reside in New York and though any correspondence is of an emotionally vacant sort, he probably wouldn't have any lingering contact at all if he didn't maintain some sense of obligation and regard for them. *His sisters don't have any idea of what he's doing for a living, though Zippy probably has an inkling that not everything is on the level, but she's definitely not privy to the details. None of his family members present sociopathic tendencies or traits. *He is wanted for $1500 under the alias Elijah Metzger, suspected for murders including those of Officers Gerald Callahan and Ethan R. Plum. Said wanted poster describes him as being 25-35 years old, 5'9-5'10 tall, built medium-slender, most likely weighing around 140-150lbs, and having a slight northeastern accent. *He's got a New Yorker's accent, though he makes an effort to cover it, generally with a mix of proper and deadpan, excepton being in the midst of one of his intermittent episodes of pure vexation - some of the New Yorker might show through if enough of his composure slips. He also speaks some German, and Yiddish (which he tries to keep at a minimum- but for all his deadpan exasperation, he might as well tattoo 'oy vey' on his forehead). Yiddish and some German were commonly spoken in his family, but for practical purposes, an effort was made to assure English was the predominant language the children were raised with. *He's completed highschool, and with a head for math, he had his criminal start as a miniature-sized bookie at 13 years for grifters, loan sharks and underground gambling operations, which is as close as he gets to being an actual accountant. *The first time he killed a man was when he was 17 (out of opportunism, and arguably, a bit of revenge It was a learning experience). He joined the Lackadaisy at 21 years old when he ran into Atlas in New York during one of the entrepreneur's travels there, and was brought to St.Louis with him. *He is among those of the characters in the comic that do not smoke, and he doesn't drink either (after a... traumatic experience with a Bunny Hug). *Mordecai is generally working even when he’s not officially working. There’s almost always something to prepare for, and when there’s not, he keeps his aim practiced, he buys and sells stocks, juggles money between accounts, sends mail, reads (for the applicable knowledge more than the enjoyment..he says), cleans, paces and sips tea. *Tracy states that he's "He's fashioned a little more in the Bugsy Siegel or Meyer Lansky mold -- ruthless as Clyde Barrow, but equipped with a head for business." Comic Appearances: Canon: *Lackadaisy Introduction 2 *Lackadaisy Cutthroat *Lackadaisy Vaudevillain *Lackadaisy Demurral *Lackadaisy Luncheon *Lackadaisy Heartstrings *Lackadaisy Loggerheads *Lackadaisy Interloper *Lackadaisy Hamstring *Lackadaisy Monomania Non-Canon: *Lackadaisy Sordid Sniffles *Lackadaisy Valentino *Lackadaisy Quick-fix *Lackadaisy Massacre *Lackadaisy Tannenbaum *Lackadaisy Wassail Tutorials: *Digital Kvetching Time *Lackadaisy Expressions Previews: *Lackadaisy Preview 0009 *Lackadaisy Preview 0013 *Lackadaisy Preview 0015 *Lackadaisy Preview 0018 *Lackadaisy Preview 0019 *Lackadaisy Preview 0020 *Lackadaisy Preview 0021 *Lackadaisy Preview 0023 *Lackadaisy Preview 0028 *Lackadaisy Preview 0029 (Chit-Chat Time with Mordecai) References *The Lackadaisy homesite, http://lackadaisycats.com, *The Lackadaisy Forum, mainly the thread 'Dumb Questions', http://www.lackadaisycats.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=681&sid=988af4e61a0e8ce112a3624523259d10 *Tracy's fo rmspring page, http://www.formspring.me/tracyjb Category:Characters